I Can Hear Them
by The Smiling Shadow
Summary: My name is Mona, its an anagram of Oman. Mona can hear the others. She's heard them all her life. She can hear Neo, Trinity, etc...And They're begining to warn her...


I Can Hear Them  
  
My name is Mona, it's an anagram of Oman. Oman is a sign from god.  
  
"Council, I bring urgent news." I say.  
  
"And what can a little girl bring us that is so urgent?" Councilor North asks.  
  
My name is Mona, I'm going to be thirteen in twenty-three days. I don't have a family, I live at the Orphanage. It is all right there, the machine always gives us extra fruit for desert. Every night the machine, which we call Sitter, tells us what happened to Neo, The One. Sitter tells us of the battle, and how Neo gave his life almost eighty-six years ago.  
  
"I can hear them, Council." I said weakly.  
  
I could hear lighting from the sky flash, and the thunder outside. The council looked at themselves strangely.  
  
"Who, child?" Councilor Flight asked.  
  
I stood there silent for a moment. A light from the ceiling focused on me, with all the captains, commanders, and councilors staring at me.  
  
And I remembered what he told me. "They will listen, little one, they cannot help but listen." I remembered his voice.  
  
I swallowed hard, and looked up at the councilors.  
  
"I can hear Neo. I can hear Trinity, and Morpheus. Niobi! Councilor Hammond! I can hear them. . . They speak to me in my dreams. . . Sometimes during the day. I see them too. I see them a lot in the Matrix. I see them and speak with them when I need help. They help me with my homework!" I explained to them.  
  
Everyone in the room grew silent.  
  
"How do you know it is them, child?" Councilor Cloud asked.  
  
"Because they tell me. Because they show me." I whispered.  
  
"Has this child been checked by a doctor?" I heard a councilor whisper.  
  
"It's true!" I yelled. "Neo comes to me in a black cloak! He shines with a golden light always around him! Trinity wears a leather, that shines with Neo's golden light. Morpheus, and Niobi where black and brown snake skin coats! Smith! Smith. . ." I trailed off. "Sometimes they have wings. . . Sometimes they have halos. . . Sometimes they just wear casual clothes."  
  
"She is quite healthy, Councilor. Nothing wrong with her." Someone whispered.  
  
"I've heard them since I can remember! Neo calls me little one, because I was so small at that age! Trinity says I look like her!" I tried to prove myself.  
  
"How can we be sure of this child? You may be lying." Councilor North said.  
  
I looked up at the Councilors, my mouth open ready to speak, but I had nothing to say. Nothing else to make them believe me.  
  
I looked down, and closed my eyes.  
  
"Neo, help me. . . I'm doing what you said. . ." I whispered  
  
And I went to that place. The place in my head where everything is okay. That place where Neo talks to me, and everything is bright like the Construct. It is a place I often go, and it makes me feel safe.  
  
"It ends tonight." I said, or rather Neo said. "I know it does I've seen it. That's why the rest of me is just going to enjoy the show. We all know I am the one that beats you." Neo quoted for Smith.  
  
I sat in the white place, Neo kneeling by my side. I could see him smile, as he quoted the battle. He spoke through my mouth, and we couldn't help but smile.  
  
"Can you feel it, Mr. Anderson? Closing in on you? Oh I can. I should thank you, after all it was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to die." Neo continued.  
  
Neo then pushed me, saying I knew the rest. I smiled at him, and opened my eyes to the council.  
  
"Why? Why? Why, Mr. Anderson!? Why get up, why keep fighting!?" I screamed at the Council. "Do you believe you're fighting for something worth more than your survival!? Can you tell me what it is do you even know!? Is it for freedom? Or truth perhaps peace, or could it be for love!?" I turned to the back of the room where I stared at the captains, and commanders. "Illusions, Mr. Anderson! Vagaries and perceptions! Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose! And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself! Although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love!" I yelled.  
  
Everyone stared at me, and I grew silent.  
  
"Smith says that. . . There's more, if you need to hear it." I finished.  
  
The Council stared at me astonished.  
  
"It's raining, and the copies are everywhere. They stare at Neo in disgust as he walks by them quietly. There's so much rain. . ." I continued.  
  
"When did this begin child?" They ask.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I was only four.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"My name is Mona."  
  
"That's a nice name. Hey, it's an anagram like mine!"  
  
"What's an anagram?"  
  
"It's a name that can be rearranged to spell something else. Like Neo, it can be rearranged to spell 'one'."  
  
He was so bright at the time, his light almost hurt my eyes. I didn't know where I was, but at the time I didn't really care. This stranger that sat before me smiled at me, and gave me a cookie. He said they were specially made for him by a friend.  
  
It was the most delicious cookie I had ever eaten.  
  
The stranger laughed, as he seemingly flew across the white room we were in. There was a light that always seemed to follow him, as I followed him.  
  
"Do you know who Neo is?" He asked.  
  
I nodded.  
  
"What about Trinity? Morpheus? Smith?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"Would you like to meet them?" He asked.  
  
I tilted my head.  
  
"But they're dead." I said quietly.  
  
The stranger laughed, and took off his sunglasses.  
  
"My name is Neo, a pleasure to meet you Mona."  
  
I looked up at this stranger in awe. I stopped running, and watched as he flew back to me. His feet never touched the ground, and the bright light radiated off of him. I was so young, I didn't even realize.  
  
"You're Neo?" I asked. "But Neo is dead."  
  
"I'm Neo."  
  
"You're an Angel!" I screamed, and jumped into Neo's arms.  
  
Neo laughed, and held me in his arms, as we floated off somewhere.  
  
"Sort of." He admitted.  
  
"I can't believe I'm talking to an Angel!"  
  
This was the man I had heard in my bedtime stories. The man that saved all of us, the man that was The One.  
  
"Hey Mona." Neo said.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Where do you live?"  
  
"I live in Babylon." I said.  
  
"Not Zion?"  
  
"Babylon is right above Zion. I have to take a long elevator to get to Zion. But that's ok, cause the machines made out elevators faster."  
  
Neo smiled.  
  
"Are the machines nice?" Neo asked.  
  
"Sitter is."  
  
"Sitter?"  
  
"The machine at the Orphanage. We call him Sitter, cause he's like our babysitter."  
  
"I see. How cute."  
  
He held be gently in his arms, his light making me feel warm. We floated for a little while, until I saw his friends. Trinity and Morpheus waved at me, and I smiled.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What's wrong Mona?" Neo asked.  
  
"Neo. . . How did you die. Everyone wonders what happened. The machines won't tell us." I said. I was a little older then, and I wanted to know.  
  
Neo took off his sunglasses, and set me in his lap. He smiled weakly at me.  
  
"I died fighting Smith." Neo whispered to me.  
  
Then all the sudden we were at the top of a building, and it was raining. It wasn't like in the Matrix, and I couldn't even feel the rain, or the cold. The lighting flashed green, and Neo held me tighter.  
  
"There I am. See?" He pointed.  
  
"Who are all the men in suits?"  
  
"That's Smith. He had the power to copy himself."  
  
And I watched in horror as Neo died, and Smith being lost in a light as bright as Neo's.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Higher Neo, higher!" I yelled.  
  
It was my birthday, I had just turned nine. And everyone was celebrating.  
  
"Higher!"  
  
We were in a field, with only one tree. Neo put me in his arms, and he flew us into the sky. I watched as Trinity, Morpheus, Niobi, and Ghost soon became little dots.  
  
I laughed and laughed, while Neo held be tightly.  
  
"Ready?" Neo asked.  
  
Then he let go. And I fell.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I've only seen Smith once. Neo says he doesn't talk much, and he doesn't really like them. I guess I understood. I had to understand.  
  
Neo said Smith wanted to see me, just this one time, I couldn't help but feel so scared. Neo pushed me forward, and he and his light disappeared. I looked around and saw nothing. I didn't dare scream for Smith, so I just sat down and waited in the white place.  
  
It took a while for Smith to finally come. I heard footsteps and I turned around.  
  
But I didn't see the Smith we all have come to hate.  
  
This Smith was still dressed in a dirty, muddy suit from when he died in. He wore no sunglasses, and seemed not to mind the dirt on his suit.  
  
He sat down next to me, and I stared at him. Neither of us spoke for a while.  
  
"Why do you wear that?" I asked.  
  
"Because I choose to." Smith said. "Because I don't want to let go."  
  
"Let go of what?"  
  
Smith didn't answer. And it is now I realize. He didn't want to let go of his past. He didn't want to forget what he was, how he died. He didn't want to live in bliss with Neo and the others. He just wanted to be what he was. And I'm not sure what that is.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I told the Council everything I could. Everything I remembered. They just stared at me in awe.  
  
"Neo told me I have to tell everyone of my gift. He said I had to." I said.  
  
Everyone was silent.  
  
"He says I have to warn everyone." I continued.  
  
"Warn about what?"  
  
I was silent for a moment.  
  
"He's becoming more persistent. He won't take off his sunglasses anymore. He won't take me flying. He says something is wrong."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"He says the machines are planning something. They're going to try to destroy Zion and Babylon. They're going to boot up the Matrix again."  
  
Everyone gasped, and started whispering among themselves.  
  
"He warns us. He says we must prepare. He says I have to go see the Oracle. He says I have to choose now." I said.  
  
"Choose what?"  
  
"I don't know. He says I have to rise now."  
  
I stood there for another hour. And told them everything else, and explained everything to them.  
  
And as I walked out of there, into the streets of Babylon. I looked to the sky, someday, Neo said, the sky would be healed.  
  
I looked down at my feet, a cleaning machine shaped like a small bug. It looked up at me, and wondered if I had any trash for it to clean up. I knelt down to it, and patted it on the head.  
  
"Are you going to kill me soon?" I asked it.  
  
It only stared, and I got up to walk back to the Orphanage.  
  
I turned back, to see the machine lying on the ground, sparks coming out of it. I killed it. 


End file.
